Eternal Hope
by Lovely Fox-Kit
Summary: The sequel to 'Red Eyed Beloved', all grammar errors have been fixed and the story is ready for re-posting! Starts out tame, but rating will escalate as the story progresses. Main pairing of VincentxSora is still the same, but other pairings will pop up as the chapters do.
1. New World, New Problems

**Eternal Hope (A Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts 2 fic)**

Disc.: I do not own 'Kingdom Hearts 2' or 'Final Fantasy' in any way at all- they belong to their respective creators, this is just a harmless story!

A/N: Welcome to the sequel to 'Red-Eyed Beloved'! I figured it was time to start on it, so here it is! If anyone read the original fic, then you know that this is set 1000 years after the end of it. It takes place during the events of Final Fantasy XIII, and still has the original pairing of VincentxSora…also, I'll be putting in one of my Legend of Spyro OCs. On a side note, the fixed pairings are as follows: VincentxSora, SnowxHope, SazhxVanille, and FangxLightning. Anything else u wanna know about, just message me and I'll try to answer your questions! So that's enough rambling, on with the fic!

 **Ch.1- New World, New Problems**

After the initial introductions were out of the way, Sora started walking behind Lightning along with his husband of the last thousand years. The both of them could already tell that this world was vastly different than the one they'd come from; to everyone else, they'd probably be seen as relics or ancient entities, but neither one of them really cared at the moment.

Lightning had also taken this chance to look over the two men who were following her to a nearby elevator which would take them underground. Truly, there was no one else in this whole world that even closely resembled them…the taller of them had long midnight black hair that starkly contrasted with his porcelain skin, bright red eyes, and wore a red cape that went up to his nose around a form-fitting black body suit. He also wore black boots and a red headband that kept his bangs out of his face, a golden clawed gauntlet, and the only other weapon that he had on him was a rather old looking 3-barrelled pistol that was out of place compared to the guns being used now by the PSICOM Soldiers she'd encountered before.

The shorter of them was almost as much a mystery as his companion. He had unruly chocolate brown hair that looked to be in a permanent state of bed head, pale-tan skin that had more color than the pale man next to him, with eyes that were so blue the sky couldn't possibly compare to them. He wore a black halter top and black shorts that stopped at his knees; his shoes looked a little too big for him, but for some reason they suited the boy. The two were rather unique compared to everyone else, but she didn't pay attention to the looks that they were getting at the moment.

She remembered that their names were Sora and Vincent, and the brunette boy had also mentioned that Vincent was his husband. In the world of Cocoon, gay marriage was widely accepted but there were also those that made it known from time to time that there was no place for that sort of relationship; Lightning just hoped that these two would be able to endure the negative stares and comments thrown at them as the elevator finally stopped.

Lightning stepped out first to allow her companions to make their way onto the bridge while she watched the doors close. When she turned to look at them, the expressions on their faces were those of shock and anger. Lightning wondered what caused them to have those looks, her eyes focusing ahead and receiving her answer.

PSICOM Soldiers and Mechs were attacking everyone, the Soldiers killing people left and right. Lightning pulled out her sword as Vincent pulled out his revolver; but when Sora tried to call his Keyblades OathKeeper and Ultima, nothing happened.

"Sora, what's wrong!?" Vincent asked worriedly.

"I can't summon my Keyblades! They're not answering my call anymore!"

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T.B.C.- Wow, new fic and already there's a plot twist! Sorry for the short first chapter, but there will be more to come! Also, what will Sora do now that he can't use his Keyblades anymore? Read on and find out!


	2. New World, New Tactics

**Eternal Hope (A Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts 2 fic)**

Disc.: I do not own 'Kingdom Hearts 2' or 'Final Fantasy' in any way at all- they belong to their respective creators, this is just a harmless story!

A/N: Here's Ch.2! If you read the first chapter, then you know that Sora has to find a new weapon to use or risk being killed! For those who don't get the title name, it's a play on Serah and Snow's theme from FF13 called 'Eternal Love' by Sugawara Sayuri…please give it a listen- it's absolutely gorgeous! Now then, time to keep calm and flutter on! Here's the next chapter!

 **Ch.2- New World, New Tactics**

To say that everyone was shocked at this particular moment in time would be the understatement of the century. Lightning had no idea what the hell Keyblades were, Vincent had to think of a way to help his mate, and Sora was without a weapon to use…until Lightning found a sword that looked a little worn, but it was still better than leaving the kid defenseless. She approached Sora and literally pushed the sword into his face, a serious expression settling onto her own features.

"Can you use a sword?"

"Y-Yeah."

"That's good to hear. And this way, at least you can defend yourself; now, let's go help those people!"

The three of them then ran across the bridge, weapons at the ready and hoping beyond anything that the people would trust them long enough to let them save their lives.

Sora stayed behind between Vincent and Lightning in the back as they all jumped the gaps and pillars that were in the way, Lightning and Vincent each taking on a PSICOM Warden and their Enforcers while Sora took on a Soldier to test if he could still use a sword.

After taking them out, 2 more Soldiers and what looked to be a robotic panther showed up…and it looked ready to kill.

"That's a Pantheron, be careful you two!" Lightning told them as she moved to block its' attack. After knocking it away from them, Vincent fired off three bullets from Cerberus and easily took it out while Sora took out the Soldiers behind it. When the path became clear again, Lightning pointed to the right and they all headed in that direction as she opened the sliding door; they then headed inside a tunnel, the door locking up behind them.

From what they could see, the tunnel opened onto a platform that was connected by steel cables and had a control panel at the end. Lightning cautiously made her way toward the control panel and began hacking into the system while her companions kept an eye out for anymore enemies that might be heading their way.

After a few minutes, the pink haired woman had secured a route for them to follow and motioned for them to take the stairs nearby. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, more PSICOM Soldiers and 2 more Pantherons showed up to stand in their way, weapons and fangs bared at them as they took them out fairly quickly and continued across the bridge they were on.

At the end of the short bridge, there was a staircase that also had a conduit with a lever. Lightning, Sora, and Vincent carefully made their way up the stairs and the pinkette pulled the lever, which made the platform extend to another bridge with a door.

After opening the door and coming out onto a platform, three PSICOM Wardens, 5 Pantherons, and 8 Soldiers awaited them. The odds were _not_ in their favor, causing Vincent to growl angrily as he cursed their horrible luck.

"Shit, this is not gonna end well for anyone." The raven haired Vessel cursed loudly, the brunette Keyblade Master squeezing his hand briefly before letting go.

"We'll worry about that later; right now, they're coming at us!" Sora said trying to reassure his husband as they got ready for battle, while telling himself that everything would work out in their favor.

(With Snow)

Snow had found himself in many situations before today where he'd either liked the odds or cursed Pulse for being such a fickle bitch. Today just so happened to be one of those days where he hated his life for being thrown into madness without even so much as a heads up.

After jumping over a few small piles of debris, Snow ran across the bridge and right past some Soldiers and Pantherons who didn't even particularly care about him at the moment until he came across a group of survivors who were outnumbered and not faring so well. Snow knew that he couldn't leave them so he decided to lend them a hand.

"Hey guys, need any help?"

One of the survivors looked at the blonde male running towards them, a sigh of relief escaping his lips as he saw that help had finally arrived.

"Hells yeah, you have no idea how much we could use it!"

"Alright, so what's the plan?"

The leader of the band of survivors was about to answer when a rumbling could be felt by all of them. They looked up to see a rather large enemy heading their way, and all of them paled considerably.

"That's a Beta Behemoth!"

"Heh, these guys ain't messing around are they?" Snow asked almost a little too eagerly.

"No, or else they wouldn't have brought this thing out!"

"Good, all the more fun for us!" the blonde haired male yelled as he charged at the enemy, catching the Behemoth off guard when he slid under it and knocked it skywards with a kick. Snow then jumped up and brought a rather hard punch into the Behemoth's skull, cracking its' armor open with a sickening crunch as both landed on the ground before the rest of the survivors finished the beast off with a rain of gunfire.

(Back with Lightning, Sora and Vincent)

After taking out the last of the Soldiers in front of them, all of them stopped to catch their breath and rest for a moment. Apparently, a moment was all they had before a large Mech appeared, guns already aimed at them and ready to shoot. The pinkette held her sword up while Vincent lifted his gun and stood in front of Sora protectively, both of them ready to fight. A bullet hit the Mech causing it to stagger backwards for a moment, all three of them looking back to see a man walking towards them.

Sora thought this man to be rather interesting; he had very dark skin and black curly hair in a strange style and was toting a pair of pistols as he stopped in front of them.

"Thought you guys could use a hand; not that I'm calling you weak or anything, I just thought you needed help with big boy here."

"We appreciate the help, but it's not over yet…it's getting back up." The pinkette said as the Mech stood back up, the strange man stepping forward and looking ready to unload on the enemy.

"Why don't you two (motions towards Sora and Vincent) rest a minute while we take care of this guy here? The name's Sazh, by the way." The dark skinned male told them as he and Lightning charged the Mech, Vincent walking over to his lover and making sure that he was indeed alright.

(Back with Snow)

The blonde male had left his new friends after they'd insisted that they could handle the rest of the enemies by themselves; soon he found himself jumping over more rubble to land on a platform that, for once, was empty other than him. Snow found a junked vehicle that looked salvageable and tried to see what he could work with, thinking that maybe he could use what he found here to get out of this hellish mess that he had been thrown into.

(With Hope and Vanille)

Hope could count the number of times he hated his life on both hands easily. The same could not be said for his companion, who'd introduced herself to him as Vanille Di Oerba; she then dragged him along past a group of enemies who felt no need to waste their time on a couple of kids, and then they found themselves standing inside a Temple.

"I hope we find our way out of here soon." Vanille said, more to herself than the silverette. The two of them managed to sneak past the enemies nearby and soon found a way out.

"Hope, is there anything bothering you? You look like you're concerned about something." The young girl said, her silver haired companion looking at her with a concerned expression on his face.

"Yeah, we need to hurry…I'm worried about my mom." Hope said, making Vanille smile warmly as the boy spoke of his mother. It was almost along the lines of how she felt about Fang, and that was very assuring to her.

"Well, let's get going then!" Vanille said excitedly but quietly so as not to alert the Soldiers they'd snuck past as well as any other enemies lurking nearby.

(Back with Snow)

After salvaging a few grenades from the ruined vehicle, Snow found himself inside the same Temple where Hope and Vanille had just escaped from, beating the enemies he'd come across into a bloody pulp and then blowing the rest of them to kingdom come.

"Well, not much more I can do here…better keep moving."

(Back with Lightning and Co.)

After the Mech had been taken out, Lightning saw a path ahead of them and they all headed towards it, Vincent feeling that the worst was yet to come their way as he held back to keep an eye on Sora; he knew that the both of them were somewhat out of practice after a thousand years, but they'd gotten back into a familiar rhythm. Sora was nervous though, but luckily for him his husband was there to soothe it away as they headed towards what may very well be either a chance encounter or a hellish fight that they may or may not win.

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T.B.C.- I actually managed to squeeze in some more of the first chapter of the game! Hope u guys like it, read and review!


	3. New World, New Worries

**Eternal Hope (A Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts 2 fic)**

Disc.: I do not own 'Kingdom Hearts 2' or 'Final Fantasy' in any way at all- they belong to their respective creators, this is just a harmless story!

A/N: Well, here's Ch.3! It's time to pick up with the next part of Chapter 1 of FF13…This time, they'll run into some new enemies and let's hope they can fare against them! No more distractions, on with the chapter!

 **Ch.3- New World, New Worries**

Lightning opened the door and the three men followed behind her through the door. After a few tense moments, Vincent walked forward and opened a chest revealing a sword. Lightning walked forward and picked it up, discarding her old weapon in favor of the new one.

"Seems like this could come in handy. We should keep moving; you never know what may be hiding in wait."

Sazh looked around cautiously, taking the pinkette's word to heart and admiring the architecture of the place. The brunette male had managed to regain some of his strength, but he still felt drained…he would try to help as much as he could; he didn't want his friends and husband to think he was weak.

(With Snow)

As he stood there looking down, Snow saw that the Temple seemed rather…modern, at least compared to the outside of the structure. The blonde male looked around and finally spotted a ladder, so he made his way over to it and climbed down onto the ground floor of the building. After getting to the bottom, Snow looked to his left and saw there was a doorway but it was blocked; he looked to his right and saw some stairs which led to a platform. Hopping over the rubble near them, the blonde male made his way up the stairs and onto the platform then started towards the inside of the tunnel that was extending over the pathway.

(With Hope and Vanille)

The two of them walked around the Temple-like structure staring at how it was built when Vanille heard heavy footsteps coming their way, looking over just in time to see three Ghouls heading towards them. Hope saw them too, and he rushed to her side while holding up his weapon to attack them. The young girl raised her weapon as well, ready to take them down so they could hurry on their way.

(Back with Lightning and Co.)

Lightning and the others had started walking forward when the sounds of footsteps could be heard nearby. Vincent saw the enemy before the others did due to Chaos' heightened senses.

"Listen, there are a few enemies up ahead; if we sneak up on them from behind, we can get the upper hand and defeat them quickly."

"I agree…let's go with your plan, Vincent." The pinkette said, all of them moving into position at her silent orders.

After slipping in behind them, Lightning used her new weapon called Gladius to wipe one of them out while Sora and Sazh double teamed 2 of them, leaving Vincent to take out the last one before they moved onward. After much walking, they came upon a rather large enemy that was rooted into a wall.

The brunette male heard a voice in his head calling out to him, and he started walking forward as if his body had a mind of its' own…unaware that he was heading into danger, unaware of anyone's voice other than the one in his head. He didn't even hear Vincent calling out to him as he finally stopped in front of the monster.

"Sora, what are you doing?!"

"(empty voice) Anima, I'm ready. Make me a part of your body, I can provide plenty of blood."

As the enemy called Anima wrapped a tentacle around Sora, Vincent immediately became enraged and ran straight at it only to be knocked away with so much force it would've killed anyone else. Lightning and Sazh also met the same fate when they tried to rescue him. The brunette didn't resist as another appendage opened, revealing a mouth lined with fangs that was ready to siphon his life force. Vincent and the others thought that Sora was finished when Snow appeared and knocked him out of Anima's grip, sprinting towards the others with the former Keyblade Master in his arms.

He then handed the brunette over to Vincent, while Lightning stared at him with a shocked look on her face.

"Snow? What are _you_ doing here?!"

"I'll explain later, right now we've got bigger problems to deal with!"

They nodded at the blonde's words as the enemy in the wall roared angrily at them for taking away its' meal.

"Right, let's focus on Anima. Sazh, help us out!"

"You got it!"

The three of them ran at Anima ready to take him out while Vincent tried everything to get his mate to come back to his senses.

"Sora, please answer me…I can't live without you; I need you…the one who accepted me for everything that makes me who I am, scars and all. The one I love more than anything, and the only one I'll ever love with all my heart."

After failing to bring the brunette back with his words, Vincent pulled Sora close to him and did something he prayed would work.

He kissed the brunette male, and that seemed to do the trick as he began responding into the kiss after a minute. As their tongues battled it out, Vincent smiled against his mate's lips and after a few minutes they broke apart.

"Vincent, what happened? Why are you crying?" the brunette asked his husband, and the raven haired male hadn't even realized that he _was_ crying. Instead, he embraced his lover with all his strength as the Chaos Vessel let all his sorrow wash over both of them, Vincent holding his mate close and sobbing into his shoulders.

"(voice breaking) I thought…I'd lost you again when you almost became an offering for that monster over there (motions towards Anima). Don't ever leave me again, I couldn't bear it if you were gone!"

Sora finally realized what had almost happened, and sighed into his husband's embrace as he held him close.

"I promise that I won't let that happen again, and I'm sorry if I worried you like that. Please forgive me."

After they finished apologizing to each other and sharing a few more small kisses, Lightning, Snow, and Sazh walked over to them after beating Anima. The pinkette warrior then knelt down in front of Sora with concern in her eyes, and asked him if he was alright. To which, the brunette replied that he was, and Lightning felt relieved.

Snow then helped Sora up off the ground and at the same time shook his hand.

"The name's Snow Villiers, although we've already sort of met." The blonde male said with a smile on his face.

"Sora Valentine, thank you for saving me." The brunette replied whilst smiling in return.

"No problem. So, who's Mr. Shady over there?" the blonde male asked as he pointed to Vincent, Sora pouting amusedly as the raven haired Chaos Vessel glared at him.

"Be nice Snow, that's Vincent Valentine."

"Your brother?" Snow asked curiously.

"My husband." Sora replied plainly, shocking the blonde male for a few seconds before he managed to find his voice…he never imagined that there'd be others like him in the world of Cocoon, but he shook it off as he ran a hand through his blonde locks nervously.

"Oh, didn't mean to jump to the wrong conclusion."

"It's ok, not many people believed us either when we told them that we're married. But we should probably get moving, no telling what else is down here."

As everyone started walking along through the rest of the structure, none of them were prepared for what happened next. Sora was so unfocused on his surroundings that he ran smack into Vanille, while Hope finally caught up to the hyperactive girl. When Vanille looked down at who she'd run into, she immediately got off of the brunette's lap, offering him a hand and apologizing about running into him without even looking at where she was going.

"It's ok, really…thanks for helping me up though."

"Even so, I'm sorry about knocking you over like that…my name's Vanille Di Oerba, and this guy (motions to silverette) is Hope."

"Nice to meet you guys. I'm Sora Valentine, and this (motions towards Vincent) is my husband Vincent Valentine."

At hearing that the two of them were married, Hope got a blush on his face and Vanille was grinning like a Cheshire cat; she was secretly a yaoi fangirl and accepted gay marriage as a part of society.

"We can finish the introductions later, right now we've got bigger problems…like getting out of this shithole alive." Snow said offhandedly knowing that he was indeed right. Looking up, Sazh saw 5 more Ghouls heading their way and muttered to himself "Just can't catch a break."

After taking out not only the five that had appeared but several more Ghouls, the small party finally made it outside. When he looked up, Sora saw what looked to be a rather huge mechanical entity. Lightning then walked up next to him and uttered a single sentence.

"The Fal L'Cie. That's what I've been searching for this whole time."

" _That_ thing? Why?" Sora asked unsure of what he was hearing.

"My sister, Serah. She's inside that thing, and I'm gonna save her!"

Sora could understand where she was coming from; after all, he'd had to leave his brother behind hundreds of years ago and it certainly wasn't easy to accept that he was gone. That all of his friends and everyone he ever knew were gone for good, lost to the Lifestream and never to return again.

"Alright, I'll help you. I know what it's like to lose someone close to you."

"You?" Lightning asked the brunette male, shock in her tone of voice.

"Yeah, I lost my brother. I won't let _you_ lose your sister."

The pinkette was surprised to hear that Sora had lost a sibling, but watched with determination as he ran ahead across the bridge while Vincent ran after him. She then took off after the both of them as Snow and the others followed closely behind.

After running for several minutes, they ended up inside the L'Cie Core, where a sight greeted them that shocked Snow and the others while angering Lightning.

"Serah!"

Lightning and Snow both ran up to the girl while Sora stayed behind to let them have their moment. It reminded him too much of Roxas and Axel, which caused the brunette to cry; Vincent then pulled his mate close and let him cry into his embrace, while he watched the girl turn into…

"Crystal? What's going on? What's happening to her?"

"It's what happens…" Hope said loudly to everyone in the room.

"When what?" asked Vincent.

"When a L'Cie fulfills their Focus. They turn into crystal and gain eternal life, sleeping yet awake." Hope finished his sentence, shocking everyone. After Serah finished turning into crystal, the ground beneath the group rumbled violently and collapsed right out from under them.

Sora felt himself falling, and reached out to grab hold of something or someone. Vincent grabbed his lover's wrist and pulled him close, vowing never to let him go; the raven haired male heard bells ringing before he looked up to see the L'Cie Core staring at them…the raven haired Chaos Vessel then saw tendrils of blue energy shoot out and grab everyone there, including himself and Sora.

The brunette then cried out in pain like his whole body was burning, and Vincent held him close as he too felt the same burning sensation…he then blacked out after the whole ordeal.

In his mind, the voice of Chaos spoke loud and clear, like he'd never left Vincent's thoughts or his blood…and in a cosmic sort of way, he hadn't.

" _Vincent, old friend…the time has come for you to awaken to a new power, tame the beast that sleeps within your soul. Use the power of the L'Cie to become Master to a new force of strength, and use it to protect those you love…I'll be waiting…."_

After feeling Chaos yet again retreat to the back of his subconscious mind, Vincent awoke to an incredible sight. Looking around, he saw his mate passed out not too far from him and moved over to where he was as he started gently shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

"Sora, wake up…you've gotta see this." The raven haired Chaos Vessel said to his unconscious mate.

Sora woke up at Vincent shaking him only to gasp at the sight before them. The entire area was covered in ice-like crystal, but it wasn't slippery like ice. The brunette male then noticed a chest not too far from where he was lying on the ground, and stood up on shaky legs before walking towards it; Sora opened it to reveal a staff, a weapon he couldn't really use so he just gave it to Vanille when she made it over to him. At seeing her smile from the weapon handed to her, the brunette male also smiled as Vincent put his arm around his shoulder.

"She reminds you of those two, doesn't she?"

"Yeah…she's exactly like _them_ , Reina and Demyx. I miss them _and_ all our friends, but they'll always be a part of us and our memories."

"That's right. Sora, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling better than I was earlier. I feel like I'm regaining my energy back, and I'm glad you're here to make sure I'm doing alright."

"Of course, I'll always be here. I love you Sora, and I'll never leave you alone ever again."

Sora couldn't believe at times how lucky he was to have Vincent in his life, he truly was blessed to be with this man who always looked out for him in every way that he could. But at the moment, the brunette male's gaze drifted to a strange looking mark on his older mate's neck.

"Hey Vincent, what's the last thing you remember?"

"I remember us falling into what looked like a bell, I heard a ringing noise and then felt like my whole body was on fire…after that, I woke up on the ground to see you passed out."

"Weird, that's what _I_ remember too…it must've done something to us, because you've got a strange glyph on your neck."

Vincent looked down and over to see that Sora was right. Maybe that's what Chaos had meant, but he didn't want to worry his mate anymore so he looked and saw the same mark on Sora's chest.

"Looks like we're both in this together…that same mark is on your chest, but don't worry too much about it right now (pulls Sora into a hug). All that matters is that we're together, and that we're still alive to _be_ together."

Sora didn't let anything else register or creep into his mind other than how much he was enjoying this moment with the most wonderful man in his entire life, and how grateful he was that eternity wasn't ever lonely with his beloved Chaos Vessel at his side to share every moment of it with him.

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T.B.C.- Well now, they have their L'Cie marks. What awaits them, and what does Chaos have to do with all of this? Read and review!


	4. New World, New Power Struggle

**Eternal Hope (A Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts 2 fic)**

Disc.: I do not own 'Kingdom Hearts 2' or 'Final Fantasy' in any way at all- they belong to their respective creators, this is just a harmless story!

A/N: Alright, it's time for Ch. 4! Time to see what's gonna happen to our favorite group of travelers! As you may have noticed, there's no summary of the story, but that's because the summary is kinda-sorta in the author's note of the first chapter…that being said, I certainly hope that doesn't stop you from enjoying the rest of the story. Not sure how many chapters it'll be, but it's not stopping anytime soon! Now, time to get down to it!

 **Ch.4- New World, New Power Struggle**

After sharing a quiet and peaceful moment together, Sora and Vincent looked over to see the others coming up to join them. Smiling, the brunette turned to Lightning with a newfound determination that he hadn't felt since the day he'd sealed off the last of the Worlds from Organization XIII and the Heartless.

"Alright Lightning, what's gonna happen now?"

"The plan is that we make our way to Eden, just like I said when we first met. Let's get moving; no need to attract unwanted attention to ourselves."

Nodding at her, Sora and the others caught up to Lightning just in time for her to draw her weapon…ahead of them were 6 PSICOM Wardens, but that was all they had to worry about for the moment. After defeating them, Snow ran on ahead to look for something to break Serah out of the crystal she was trapped in.

Catching up to him, Vincent saw the next part of the path split in two directions. The left one was the only open path, so they all headed down it and ran into 4 Pantherons that looked ravenous, their jaws spilling saliva onto the ground as they ran straight on at the group. Vincent, Snow, and Sora easily took them out; Hope was knocked back onto his ass by a fifth Pantheron that showed up out of nowhere, Vanille moving between them to protect him.

Sazh unloaded a few bullets into the Pantheron and put it down while Vanille helped Hope up to his feet, pulling the young silverette into an embrace to comfort him so he wouldn't be shaken up, and talked to him soothingly much like an older sister would to her younger brother.

"All of this…it's just too much to handle right now; deal with it later."

Hope couldn't help but relax into Vanille's hold, feeling a bit better at her understanding of his pain. In all honesty, he just wasn't ready to deal with everything all at once…after a few minutes, Vanille let go of him and skipped on ahead. He was glad that she was there to comfort him, but he had to catch up to the others that were waiting nearby…for some reason, they were just standing there huddled around something when the brunette male walked up to Hope and gently pulled him forward.

"Hope, you might want to see this…then again, maybe not."

Wondering what he meant, Hope was on edge somewhat until he came upon a sight that really _was_ too much for him: his mom was laying there in a pool of her own dried blood, her body unmoving…Hope knew right away that she was dead, so he just pulled his mother's body into his arms and began sobbing loudly, not caring if he alerted the enemy or that his new companions were right there. They too were crying over the loss of the woman that was Hope's mother, while Snow quietly slipped away and sat down on a crystallized rock nearby. He couldn't be near the kid right now, because _he_ was the reason that his mother had died.

After several minutes of crying and praying that her soul would find peace, the silverette walked up to the blonde male with wet and puffy eyes to only to find the man crying his own eyes out.

"(voice breaking) Listen Hope, I'm really and truly sorry for your loss…it's all _my_ fault this happened to you, _I_ should be the one who died so she'd still be with you."

"What do you mean?! Did you-"

"No, I didn't deliberately let her die…but I may as well have killed her. I did everything I could to help her, but I still couldn't save her…"

(Flashback)

" _Hang on, you'll be okay! I won't let you die…just hold on!" Snow said while holding Nora's hand with all the strength he could dredge up at the moment. The woman just smiled at him sadly, knowing that she was going to die…all that mattered to her in that moment was her son, Hope. All she cared about was that he lived and stayed safe, and said one thing to Snow in her final moment._

" _Just…get him home safely."_

 _And with a smile, she slipped out of Snow's grip and fell to her death._

"NO!" _the blonde man screamed out as he watched her plummet to her death with a smile on her face. For the first time in 3 years, Snow felt complete despair and regret overtake him as he pulled himself up onto the bridge and cried while slamming his fist on the ground in sorrow. He knew he was gonna have to tell her son about the woman's death eventually, so he set out to find him and keep the promise he'd made to Nora in her final moments._

(Flashback ends)

"I made her a promise…and I intend to keep it. I'll get you home, even if you hate me for the rest of your life…I'll keep her promise." Snow said while attempting to stand up but was stopped when a small and warm body pressed against him, Hope embracing the older man while crying into his muscular build.

"I…I know you did everything you could, and I don't hate you for that. Just make sure she didn't die for nothing, or else I won't forgive you!" Hope said while wiping the tears from his eyes, then helped the blonde male to his feet so they could regroup with their friends.

After much walking, Lightning felt a rumbling beneath their feet and looked over to see the Mech she had encountered on the train before meeting up with Sora and Vincent. Taking out her weapon, Lightning charged ahead while Sora, Vincent, Sazh and Vanille moved to attack from any blind spots the machine may have.

Snow decided to hang back and comfort Hope, who at the moment couldn't handle fighting after the blonde male's emotional apology _and_ holding his mother's lifeless body in his arms. Snow just sat down on another nearby crystallized rock before he pulled the young boy to his build and held him tight while running his hand across his back soothingly, knowing that this was exactly what the kid needed at the moment…the fighting could wait, right now Hope needed reassurance and Snow was there to offer it.

When the fighting ended, Snow released Hope and both males rose to their feet as they ran to catch up with the others. Feeling their luck was gonna change for the better, Vanille charged ahead only to bump into the back leg of an Alpha Behemoth, which turned around to attack whatever it was that had interrupted its' assessing of the area. As she backed up, the pinkette warrior and dark skinned male quickly engaged it while Vanille stood next to Hope. He took out his weapon and moved to help the others, while Snow stood in front of Vanille to protect her.

Sora and Vincent soon arrived, weapons ready and armed. Sora was about to charge ahead to help the others until he got a splitting headache that caused him to scream in agony, which made the raven haired Chaos Vessel nearly drop his weapon in panic as he grabbed his mate and held him tight to his body, all while trying to calm him down and stop him from screaming.

"Sora, what's wrong!? Are you gonna be okay?!" But it seemed to only make things worse as the brunette kept screaming. Vincent then saw that his Cieth mark began glowing a very violent red and then Sora passed out.

The Behemoth, however, was stumbling back in pain at the intensity of Sora's screaming and it gave the others a chance to defeat it. Vincent then picked Sora up and just carried him on his back, relief washing over him when he felt his mate's arms wrap around his shoulders…this small action bringing a smile to his lips.

"Will he be okay?" Vanille asked Vincent as she ran up to him. She was worried about her friend, and the raven haired Chaos Vessel was glad that she was concerned…it meant that he wasn't the only one to feel worried over Sora's condition.

"I think he'll be fine after some rest. We just have to find the nearest city and get him to a hotel, then wait."

"You really love him, don't you Vincent?"

"Yeah, we've been married for a very long time after all…he's the only other one who has ever accepted me for everything that makes me who I am, scars and all."

"What kind of scars do you mean?"

"Physical _and_ emotional scars. I'll tell you more later, because it looks like we just found our ticket out of here." The raven haired Chaos Vessel said as he pointed to a large machine directly ahead of them.

Vanille turned and faced the direction that Vincent was pointing at, the orange-redheaded girl looking up to see an aircraft that was in good physical condition, but the inside would probably be another story.

"This could help, right?"

"Yeah, the only thing missing might be an engine."

"You should stop being so negative, Sazh."

"And you shouldn't get your hopes up. Now let's go on and see what we've got here."

As the others looked over the ship, Hope looked behind him to see that he was alone.

"Hey guys, where's Snow?"

(With Snow and Serah)

Snow felt bad for slipping away when Hope had run ahead to catch up to the others, but he needed to help Serah out of her prison. True, he felt awful for dashing her feelings for him by telling her that he's gay but it was better for her to find out much sooner rather than later. Even so, he promised Lightning that he'd take care of her sister and got back to his task of trying to dig her out of the crystal.

After trying in a fruitless effort to free her, Snow looked up to see three PSICOM Air Carriers hovering in the sky above him, their spotlights trained on him as he could barely make out what they were saying to him.

"Hey, you guys gonna help me out here or what?"

It seemed all of Pulse really _did_ hate him at this moment, because at least 18 PSICOM Soldiers began surrounding him. Snow cursed his own damnable luck, because he wasn't in the mood for this bullshit.

"Well now, let me help you out with your 'cleanup'."

The next thing the Soldiers knew, Snow was rushing at them ready to beat the shit out of them. After much struggling, they'd finally managed to pin him down until his Cieth mark began glowing blue. They all backed up in fear as two women materialized out of a blue sphere and knocked them all unconscious with a wave of ice energy, but soon enough they turned to Snow.

"Seems like I can't catch a break at all today, now can I?" Snow said as the battle began.

When the fight was over, Nix and Shiva turned to each other and then became Snow's newest transport away from the battlefield: a motorcycle.

"Alright, now _this_ is what I call exiting in style!" The blonde said as he revved the engine and felt it rise up off the ground, his eyes falling on the crystallized girl one last time.

"Sorry Serah, I'll be back for you later."

After saying his goodbyes, Snow took off to catch up with the others and wondered if Hope would forgive him for sneaking off without telling him first.

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T.B.C.- Snow got Nix and Shiva! Will Hope forgive him for sneaking away? Read on to find out!


	5. New World, New Surprises

**Eternal Hope (A Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts 2 fic)**

Disc.: I do not own 'Kingdom Hearts 2' or 'Final Fantasy' in any way at all- they belong to their respective creators, this is just a harmless story!

A/N: It's time for Ch.5! It's coming right up to a very important part in the story- the group finally makes it to the surface and to the seaside city of Bodhum…Also, they'll learn more about Sora and Vincent's past together. It's extremely important to the story, so stick around and see what all goes down!

 **Ch.5- New World, New Surprises**

After finding his way back to his friends, Lightning scolded Snow for running off without telling them while Hope shot him a glare. He had no other way to calm them down other than to just apologize and promise not to do it again, so he humbled up and told them he was sorry. Sazh came out of the ship to tell everyone that it was all ready to go, but he was greeted by everyone holding up their weapons.

"Hey guys, no need to fly off the handle like that! I know I took a little longer than necessary, but seriously-"

"Sazh, move…now!"

Sazh looked behind him to see a Garuda Interceptor growling at him, which prompted him to haul ass and join the others. The Interceptor jumped down off the ship and engaged the group in a fight, Vincent hanging back to keep his lover safe while Snow, Lightning, and Sazh fought the huge monster. Vanille and Hope snuck away and entered the ship to start powering it up; after they staggered the Interceptor it retreated, which gave them a chance to board the ship. Lightning set the destination to the seaside city of Bodhum, and after thrumming to life the airship took off towards the sky.

When they'd gained enough altitude, Vincent sat down next to his mate, who had yet to wake up from his coma. The raven haired Chaos Vessel hadn't felt this helpless since that day in Rufus' lab when they had first learned that the brunette male was pregnant with his rapist's children. Instinctively, he grabbed Sora's hand in his own and started to cry when there was an explosion. He then heard Sazh yelling "Hang onto something, we've got dogs on our tail!"

It took much flying on Sazh's part before they finally managed to shake them. But they only had a small moment to rest before the enemy showed up again, and this time they finally got help as Lightning spotted a Fal L'Cie floating nearby.

"Fly in, we'll lose them in there!"

The dark skinned male nodded and maneuvered into the L'Cie's airspace, the planes following them only to get knocked out of the sky by the L'Cie's power.

"I like this Fal L'Cie!"

"Look out!"

Sazh didn't have any time to move before their plane was shot and they had no choice but to make a crash landing, the rest of the party getting knocked out when the airship hit the ground really hard. When they finally came to after being thrown from the airship, Lightning looked around at where they'd ended up…and she didn't like it at all.

"So, where are we?" Hope asked.

"Well from the looks of things and the environment, I'd say that we're _not_ in Bodhum just yet." Snow replied.

"He's right, we're in the Cocoon Deadlands…specifically, the Vile Peaks. And we're not alone!" Lightning said as she pulled out Gladius to take on the two Pantherons that had shown up looking for easy prey.

Vanille had managed to get Sazh to wake up while Vincent came out of the ruined ship carrying Sora on his back, looking a little ragged. It seemed like the brunette was doomed to forever remain comatose, and this scared the raven haired Chaos Vessel more than anything else in the world.

"We should keep moving, we don't want any more late night guests."

"Right…so let's move out; you okay, Hope?" Snow asked him. The kid was starting to grow on him, and he had a feeling as to why but he just pushed the thought aside for the time being.

After everyone was up and moving around, the group soon came to a mine tunnel…seeing as how they couldn't go anywhere else at the moment, they headed straight inside. Vincent was still at a loss as to what to do, he needed his mate to wake up and be there by his side; without Sora, it just felt like his life didn't matter or even if he lived anymore. Vanille could see that he was deeply troubled, so she fell back to offer some consolance, even if it was only a little bit.

"I know he'll wake up soon, we just have to wait. I don't know what it's like to have a husband, or to even be a wife, and I may seem like a little kid who doesn't know anything about love or marriage…but what I do know is how to try and cheer up a friend when they need it most, and I know that Sora will wake up very soon. We just have to wait, and before you know it he'll be there by your side to smile at you again, Vincent!"

Vincent couldn't help but look at her with astonishment in his eyes, she really was just like them…it warmed his heart at how her words were exactly what he needed at the moment, and this brought a smile to his face.

"Thank you, Vanille. You're right, he _will_ wake up soon, I just have to be patient…now let's catch up to the others, we don't want to keep them waiting too long."

"Yep, let's go then!"

After making their way through the maze of tunnels in the mines, Lightning and Hope went on ahead to secure a route while Sazh and Snow sat down to rest for a moment. Vanille went looking for supplies while Vincent just looked around for anything that would help them.

He set Sora down gently so he could think, when Snow noticed the pained look on his face. It looked like he was having a headache or a heart attack, and Snow felt concern for his friend.

"Hey Vincent, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I…I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I said I'm _fine!_ " Before Snow could ask him again, Vincent's Cieth mark on his neck began glowing a dark purple color before an array appeared underneath his feet. A monster of some sort then appeared in front of them, but it looked almost like a demonic version of Vincent…he then spoke the being's name, as he knew him all too well.

"Chaos."

(With Lightning and Hope)

The two of them were making fairly good time through the Deadlands. Lightning and Hope had taken out their share of enemies, but the young silverette was starting to feel tired from all the fighting and had wanted to rest…but he didn't want anyone to think that he would just give up so easily when the chips were down.

As they made their way across the bridge, the silverette had to wonder what Lightning thought of his desire to become stronger so he decided to just come out and ask her.

"Lightning, don't you think we should rest a bit?"

" _You_ can if you want to, but _I'm_ not resting until we get to Bodhum."

"But Light…"

"At any rate, it doesn't matter…you should just stay here." Lightning said as her Cieth mark began glowing with a magenta light, pain shooting through her whole body.

"What?!"

"I'm saying that…you're nothing but a liability."

"But, I can get stronger- I know it!"

"I don't have time to look after another person…(grunts in pain)…especially…not some little kid! I can barely look after myself." The pinkette warrior shouted as the pain became too much, an array appearing beneath her feet; an armored knight then materialized within the center of the array. It saw Hope as an easy target and went after him, but Lightning managed to stop its' sword from falling on him with her own as she took on the being in front of her…which now designated _her_ as its' new target.

"Lightning!"

"I can handle him, just stay behind me!"

So the fight began, with Lightning running towards the enemy and delivering a slash to its' head. It seemed unfazed by such a move, but she used this chance to swipe at it's stomach and that seemed to work because it staggered back for a moment before Lightning began a rather aggressive series of slashes and strikes to the same area.

She then jumped behind it and delivered a punishing blow to its' back…the knight then conceded the battle to her and turned into a horse, the Gestalt beast walking forward and accepting Lightning as his new master, the pinkette warrior hearing the knight's voice in her mind tell her his name.

' _My name is Odin, and I shall serve you until the end of our days, Lady Lightning. Call upon me and my power when you need it…I will always answer. Until then, I bid you farewell.'_

After Odin disappeared, Lightning fell to her knees exhausted from the battle as Hope ran up to her to see if she was ok.

"Lightning, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little winded, that's all." The pinkette warrior said tiredly as she stood up and caught her breath.

"Hey Light, wasn't that an Eidolyn like the ones that L'Cie can summon to this world?"

"Yeah, but now he's with us. Let's get moving, we don't want anything else giving us a surprise visit. If we keep going, we should soon reach the Gapra Whitewoods and from there it's a straight shot to Bodhum." Lightning said to the silverette before attempting to walk ahead but was stopped by Hope's saddened tone as he spoke to her.

"Ok, I'm…did you really mean what you said before? Am I really nothing but a liability to you, to everyone?" the silverette asked with obvious sadness in his voice, causing the pinkette woman to turn around and sigh as she walked up to Hope…she placed her hands on his shoulders whilst kneeling down so that she could be eye level with him and answered his question.

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that; you're getting stronger, Hope…we just need to toughen you up a little more, and this trek will see to that. Now let's get going, and try not to fall behind." The pinkette warrior said as she smirked at the younger boy and began walking a little further ahead of him, the silverette smiling in return as he jogged to catch up to her.

"Yes ma'am!"

Hope could feel his spirits lift a little bit at hearing her say that. In all honesty, he wouldn't have been able to bear it if she _did_ mean what she'd said earlier but now he had a newfound determination to prove himself to her and the others.

(Back with Vincent and Co.)

After finally managing to defeat Chaos and making him obey his orders, Vincent looked to the others to see questions in their eyes. He figured they _would_ have questions, but how was he supposed to explain to them how it is that he and Chaos have a bond that's lasted more than a thousand years? How do you tell someone that you're far older than anyone or anything else that exists, not to mention the fact that you'll far outlive them yet again?

"Well now, I'd say that Vincent here is one hell of a fighter!" Snow said with a hint of admiration in his voice at the man's strength.

"Yep, but what I wanna know is how do they know each other? Seems to me like they've fought together before." Sazh said wanting to know the truth. As Vincent was about to tell them everything, Vanille spoke up and saved him the trouble of doing so.

"He'll tell you everything when we get to Bodhum, right Vincent?"

"Yeah, when we reach Bodhum. By then, Sora should be awake and he'll help me explain everything in better detail. Until then, let's keep moving. Any idea what lies ahead of the Deadlands?"

The others all looked at each other before Sazh pulled out a map that showed where they were and what was ahead of them. "Well, it says that our next destination is the Gapra Whitewoods. If we get going now, we should make good time and from there it's straight to Bodhum!"

With their destination decided, Vincent gently lifted Sora onto his back again and felt relief at the brunette male grabbing his neck gently to hold onto him. The rest of the group then took off for the Whitewoods, hoping that they wouldn't encounter too much trouble but then again things would always seem to end up troublesome for them.

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T.B.C.- I know I'm so mean for keeping Sora in a coma, but he'll wake up soon. Two Eidolyn encounters and a fight are enough for this chapter, so stick around to see what happens next!


End file.
